Thursday, August 19, 2010

A while back I was contacted by the California Fig Advisory Board to see if I'd like some fresh & dried figs to cook with this summer*. I jumped at the chance especially since fresh figs are sometimes hard to find in the store here. Well, I never expected this kind of abundance!A flat each of the five varieties of fresh figs & 8 pounds of dried figs! Oh, what a treat!The first thing Matt did was start tasting each variety to see what the differences were in flavor.From left to right:Sierra: A newer hybrid fig. Wonderfully sweet, this one was our favorite for eating fresh.Brown Turkey: We were familiar with these since they grow behind my parents house in Memphis. My dad likes to pick them in the morning & have them on his cereal. They also make a fantastic pink jam.Kadota: This one had the most subtle flavor & was the least sweet of the bunch.Black Mission: I think of these as the chefs fig. We liked them least for just eating fresh but I can't wait to turn them into sauce for duck.Calimyrna: I loved the flavor of these, reminded me of a peach with a touch of pear.Believe me there was a lot of snacking of figs going on yesterday on our house. They are so ripe it was hard to resist. Luckily, figs are good for you too, providing more fiber than any other fruit or vegetable.

Now, when face with this much fresh fruit my first thought it to make jam.I made three batches yesterday, Brown Turkey, Calimyrna & Sierra. I think figs make the most gorgeous jam, the jars looks like jewels. I used the same recipe for fig jam that I used last year. It is quick & seems pretty foul-proof. I flavored the Brown Turkey & Calimyrna jams with cinnamon & for the Sierra I used cardamon because I thought that slight citrus flavor would be a good match. Fig jam is great on toast, in oatmeal, on a turkey sandwich or as an appetizer with goat cheese.

The California Fig Advisory Board has offered to share one of these amazing fig packages with one of my readers. Leave a comment on this post & tell me what you do with this bounty of figs. Make sure to leave your email address so I can contact you if you win. Since we are dealing with fresh fruit here the winner for this contest can only be in the United States, sorry. I'll be announcing the winner the morning of Wednesday, August 25th.

Tomorrow I'll share a fig ice cream & an easy fig dessert on the grill.Here's some of my other fig recipes to whet your appetite in the meantime...

*Here's your disclaimer: The CA Fig Board sent me fresh & dried figs to use myself and a package of figs to giveaway to one of my readers. They did not pay me in any other way & I was under no obligation to write about the figs.

81 comments:

Libby - coilwoman at yahoo dot com
said...

I've never had a fig before, mostly because of them not being available in Minnesota. I would love to give them a try - starting September I will be living the grad student lifestyle, so I will have time to experiment and share the results with friends and family (as opposed to frantically cooking them up on evenings!). I'd like to try a grilled pizza with figs in particular.

Fig heaven!! My favorite way to enjoy figs is slicing them into quarters, crumble blue cheese over them, drizzle with honey, and bake to warm them up and melt the blue cheese.... ooooh lordy! So good :)

I have just this summer jumped into the world of canning. Those jams look wonderful. I'd certainly use figs to expand my canning repertoire. I am also very fortunate to have a one-year-old who is an adventurous eater. I'd love to let him try those beautiful fresh figs.

In one of my rare domestic moments (and yes, it was over ten years ago!) I picked a bunch of figs from a friends yard and made chutney. I used some chili to give some a kick and others were sweeter. They were delicious! Since the great NSA airport jam confiscation of 2010 I'm ready to tackle more jam! And I'd probably try some other fig storage recipes too. Plus it's my 50th bday next month which I'm still in shock over and it would be a nice way to start my sixth decade!

Wow. If I had that many figs, I would probably be like you and make jelly. I would also love a chance to experiment with figs in other dishes. I have never cooked with figs before. Actually, except for fig newtons, I have never really eaten figs! But I do have to admit that my mouth is watering at a turkey, goat cheese, and fig jelly sandwhich...

Oh, I love figs so much! I have three recipes for fig appetizers that have been bookmarked on my computer for YEARS that I've been dying to try when I can get my hands on some good fresh figs. But I'd also love to make jam, too!

Oh gosh - I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to win this giveaway! Fresh figs are divine - would make jam, top w/goat cheese, make pizza (which is to die for!), serve w/ricotta, honey & walnuts for breakfast . . . so much you can do with fresh figs!

Mmm! Figs. I got some of the best Black Mission figs at the Fort Mason farmers' market here in San Francisco last week. Gobbled them right up! So I'd definitely eat a lot of them, but I also have a recipe for fig and goat cheese muffins I've been wanting to try, as well as the delicious looking fig recipes in the cookbook Rustic Fruit Desserts.

My husband and I would probably eat at least half of them fresh (yum!) and I would definitely make some jam too. I'd also like to try some another preserved product, something not so sweet, like maybe fig chutney. A fig sorbet could be interesting, too. And definitely figs with yogurt in the morning. lindsay_silber@hotmail.com

I would definitely make jam. Some years I make jelly with different kinds of basil and the colors are wonderful - especially when you use purple basil. I even won blue ribbons for it at the Mn State Fair. I would serve the fig jam with goat cheese on a good baquette all winter and enjoy that tase of summer. Karen email:stuhlfeier@comcast.net

I'd eat them with yogurt & honey -- and stuffed with goat cheese... I'd stir a bit into butter to make a spread for bagels. And I'd use them as a complement to lamb burgers. I'd probably preserve some too. I've never done that before, never having had an abundance of fruit. But, it would be great to have on hand.

I would LOVE to have fresh figs for grilling, drizzling with Balsamic vinegar, and melting a hint of Roquefort over. With dried figs, making fig bars (sort of a homemade Fig Netwon) would be lovely, and also having in salad with pecans and roasted pears. Then there's fig tart, and roasted caramelized figs over pork, and figs brushed with honey, broiled, and served with ginger ice cream...

For my birthday last year, I had figs with fresh ricotta and honey for breakfast. I had to use dried figs though because my birthday is in December! So first, I re-do my birthday breakfast using fresh figs. Then I'd get to work on the stash of fig recipes I've been waiting to try including 1)spinach sauteed with garlic, figs and honey, 2) black mission figs stuffed with blue cheese and lavendar honey, 3) fig tart with orange flower custard, 4) fig and lime jam, 5) sticky italian figs 6) fig salad with goat's milk yogurt and pepper cress and finally.... caramelized fresh figs with sweet cream. YUM!

Mmm figs! I would eat quite a few as is, make some jam, make a pizza, eat some with cheese, make a fig balsamic vinaigrette, and maybe try to come up with a goat cheese cheesecake with a fig reduction. But mostly just eat a ton of them.

I would love to win this, but first a confession: I have never eaten a fresh fig before! I've had fig jam (and fig newtons, though that hardly counts), so the first reason I'd like to win is because I'd love to taste them fresh. I love to cook and am good at using up a bounty of fruit, so it would be fun to cook using a new ingredient! Plus, I hear they go well with goat cheese...Mmmm!

I too have never eaten a fresh fig (though I have thought about it and wondered how they would be...)So I would definitely enjoy them fresh with and without some creamy yogurt or goat cheese, borrow your recipe for jam and make some kind of fig bars...

I just had my first fig a couple of weeks ago. I was walking through the farmers market and someone was handing out samples. I was in heaven! I couldn't believe that a little fruit like that could be sooo sweet. I bought some and sliced them almost all the way through in quarters so it opened like a flower, put goat cheese in the middle, and drizzled with a peppered honey. Yum! If I had a lot of figs, I'd make that, try to make jam, and try out every recipe I could that included figs.

What a score! We use to have a fig tree when I was young and we would eat them right off the tree. I didn't know there was that many varietys. I would have to make some jam for sure! Then maybe a Caramel Fig Tart or Caramelized Onion, Fig, and Blue Cheese Strudel. Or just stuff them with some cheese.Oh how I would love to play with the all mighty fig!

You are so lucky to have received this shipment of figs, and to have been able to taste the variety! I adore figs stuffed with fresh rich goat cheese and thinly sliced prosciutto. I also adore caramelized figs to top salads.

The figs look absolutely wonderful! In Portugal figs are abundant, but here they are expensive and hard to find. My grandparents had fig trees, so in the summer it was such a treat to just go and pick one off the tree. You are so lucky. :)

My favorite thing to do with fresh figs is to make up a variety of relishes and toppings and freeze them. I'll spend the day chopping onions and figs and whatever else I can think of and make 1 to 2 cup compotes with various spices and flavorings. Curry, red wine, etc. Freeze these in zip lock bags and pull out to top pork or spread on bruscetta, whatever you can come up with.

I like to use the dehydrator to dry the figs so they can be used all year. One of my favorite/easy recipes is to boil then in Riesling wine, with a little sugar added, and dried apricots. I would love to know the other types of figs. I use Brown Turkey. email jandmcar@bellsouth.net

Yum! I saw your recipe on grilling them and made a similar recipe last weekend with grilled figs stuffed with a little goat cheese, wrapped in prosciutto, and then grilled on a cedar plank. Made an amazing first course!

Oh wow, this is my kind of blog giveaway - fresh food! What a great package you received and a wonderful fig lesson for me. I'm really coming around with figs and love them in jams, spreads and dessert pizzas. They are so uncommon here in KY. I actually saw them much more in Brazil.

We have a friend whose Lebanese mother lives with them. She's invited me over to teach me some recipes at some point and my mom was telling me about fig cookies she makes. I'd be trying those if I win! :)

Oooh, great giveaway! Love fresh figs and they are a staple down here in the deep South. I would eat some, make some jam and probably share my bounty with fellow fig lovers. The jam would make great Christmas gifts!

I've never had a fresh fig before, but I hear they are far superior to the dried variety I get here in Indiana! I've looked into purchasing some at www.localharvest.org & having them shipped here, but they're always out of stock! I'd love to try them...

...Oh, yeah, I have been *dying* to get my hands on some fresh figs! I think I might even smoke some of them & turn it into a smoked jam for holiday turkey & ham. This is canning season & I understand figs can be boiling-water canned (there's a recipe in my Ball's Blue Book). I'm sure I'd have to preserve some of them this way for a taste of summer in the snow!

Wow, what a special treat you received! I love to buy fresh figs at the co-op when in season. I bought some at the Hollywood Farmer's Market last fall - what a treat! I would love to try making fig jam. I think fresh figs would be good on a salad with nuts and some sort of soft cheese. Mmmm, maybe some sort of fig sauce on a pork chop? But mostly I think we'd just gobble them up. Yum, yum!!

Figs are some of my favorite fruits! I would definitely roast some of the fresh ones to serve as dessert. I am also a sucker for fig-and-blue-cheese pizza. And of course, I would eat a bunch of them fresh, because I can never seem to help myself!

I am sooooo jealous. We just moved here from N. California where we could walk down the street and pick Black Mission figs from our neighbor's tree. There is NOTHING like a fresh fig. There is a restaurant in Santa Rosa called Zazu that would stuff a fresh fig with gorganzola and wrap it in Black Pig bacon....can I say delicious? Enjoy your booty.

If I won, (and boy how I'd love to win!) I'd first probably indulge in a few straight away, then eat some stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in prosciutto (yum!), and then make some jam with the rest. We're a bit fig-deprived here in Tennessee, and I would absolutely love to win this!

I would do as you did and make some fig jam. Last year I made a bar that was similar to a Fig newton, so I would make some of those as well, and then I would borrow my MIL's dehydrator and dry all sorts of them so I can continue to enjoy them in the months ahead. I just adore figs!!!!

Long time lurker, first time poster. I have never tried figs, but have always been amazingly curious about them. The colors are so beautiful and the fig-flavored things I've tried, I've loved. I would love to go on a fig bender and try ever fig recipe out there! Especially your fig jam. Gorgeous!

Ooooo! It looks like I've forgotten to add my email, too! My mom is really hoping to get a taste of some of these figs. She might even try to buy me some just so I can post all those recipes on MY blog!

Hmmm...I think I would have to try my hand at jam, because those photos make it look drool-worthy. Otherwise, I'm not completely sure, since I've never had figs before. I've heard of a fig pizza that I might want to try too!

Ooooohh! I'd make:1. raspberry fig preserves with some of the fall raspberries that are appearing at the farmers market2. grilled figs stuffed with cardamom spiced mascarpone3. a blue cheese, bacon, sage and fig pizza on the grill4. I'd also love to try making Robert Irvine's beef tenderloin with Costa Rican Coffee Balsamic Fig Glaze.

I've seen more recipes with figs lately that look like they would be so yummy to make. Like other posters I think we would make jams and other yummy things. I also want to see what the difference between the different varieties are.